Osaka, March 22:

This was our last day in Japan before we headed back to Tokyo on the 23 to go back to America.

The first thing we were led to was a cute deer park, a park filled with deer where you can interact, feed, and admire the beauty of deer. I found this part of Osaka super cute and cool, and surprisingly the roads are clear from deer feces. So it’s an easy walk down the roads of the park without worrying of messing up your shoe game. I also realized that these deer are super polite, I dropped my phone and when I went to pick it up the deer interpreted it as bowing and it bowed back. Now at first, I was confused, I thought I was seeing things. Then I went up to another deer and bowed purposely resulting in the deer bowing back. Now I was shocked on how trained these deer were, or if they just picked it up from being around people for so long.

Afterwards, we approached a temple, Todai-ji in Nara, Japan. The history behind the temple was super inspiring, it was originally made in 700 AD but it’s been burnt from wars several times. The last time it was built was during the 1600s according to my tour guide. Which is super cool to think that the huge bronze Buddha statue inside has survived all of these years and through all of these fires. The pathway walking into the Todai-ji was a road built from other countries, some stone from China, Japan, Korea, to even India.

Inside, I lit a candle for Buddha, in doing so you are able to make a wish. I wished for a healthy life full of success and love. It’s interesting to see how Buddhism has some same concepts like Hinduism such as karma, dharma, and reincarnation. Walking around this huge statue may crane your neck because it is really tall, I was exploring and found a pillar inside the temple. People were going through this small hole on the bottom of the pillar. I looked towards my tour guide and he said that going through that hole brings good luck. Which is cool unless you’re not tiny. My sister had no trouble going through the hole, I also got through pretty easily, however some of my friends had some trouble.

Afterwards the tour continued on to the Osaka palace. The Osaka palace is so beautiful, the blue/green roof compared to the white building makes it look so magical. I didn’t go inside the Osaka palace but just looking and admiring its beauty from the outside was enough for me. I stopped by a restaurant nearby where I got myself some ramen and fries as well as a Sakura ice cream, which tastes just like vanilla but sweeter and heavier for some reason. THE ICE CREAM LOOKS SO CUTE.

Licking the dried up ice cream off my hands, don’t judge, our next destination is one of the most known in Osaka. I forgot the name of what the shopping street is called, but do you know that famous street with the billboard of a man running with two hands up and one leg off the ground as if he’s running? That’s where I was. I was looking around for some Sushi, but with my dismay, I couldn’t find anything. WHICH IS CRAZY. Maybe I wasn’t looking too hard or maybe something happened but I couldn’t find anything. I did however find some nice shoes at this one trendy street wear store called Atmos. As well as a Starbucks, I got a Matcha tea because believe it or not the last day of Japan is when I got a matcha tea drink. It was so smooth and there was no gritty matcha bits at the bottom like in America. Believe it or not, everything is Matcha flavored in Japan. They love it. Which I understand. My friend who tagged along with me to get Starbucks got a Vanilla Frappe.

Airport day, March 23:

It was time to leave and I finally got my sushi at an airport restaurant while waiting to board. I’m sad to say goodbye to Japan but what can I say. It was a fun experience and I always know there will be more travel time for me later. I’m going to get ready for Australia in a few weeks!

Thank you so much for tuning in!